We're finalists in the CLIA Cruise Industry Awards
I'm so proud of my excellent team! Lets Cruise has made the finalists in the CLIA Cruise Industry Awards to be held in Sydney 24th February 2018. We're finalists for:
Lets Cruise - Online Agency Of The Year (New Zealand)
Helen Mahoney - Cruise Consultant Of The Year (New Zealand)
Mark Smith - Cruise Consultant Of The Year (New Zealand)
It's the first time in the history of the Awards that TWO Consultants from the same agency have made the finalists for Cruise Consultant of the Year!
If you love cruising as much as we do then jump on our website to see what's on offer. You could be cruising the Pacific Islands, discovering Vanuatu or exploring Fiji.
Happy cruising,
Mark Smith
Managing Director - Lets Cruise
And the 2024 Prospa Local Business Hero is...
A huge congratulations to mother and son duo, Mary and Sam Danielson from The Puketapu Hotel.
The votes for all finalists have been tallied and they have been chosen by Neighbourly members across the country as the Prospa Local Business Hero of 2024.
The Puketapu Hotel was nominated by a local called Margaret and the nomination reads:
'On Feb 14, 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle flooded many of the rural areas. Puketapu Hotel went under perhaps half a meter of water. However, immediately Mary Danielson and her son, Sam Danielson, along with their loyal staff pulled it together to cook copious amounts of food that without electricity would have been wasted. Throughout the years many of us have been treated with a pub gathering where we can reconnect and a free meal. At Christmas there was Santa, games, gifts for kids, donated patchwork for adults, an ice cream truck and lots of camaraderie.
This February on the cyclone anniversary, they again pulled out the stops to give hundreds of us a special night. We are all tired of the cyclone cleanup and they understood that it was needed.'
Such a deserving business and team, well done Mary and Sam. And thank you to all those who voted!
Quarry risk to Tranz Alpine train, but no quick fix
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Delays in the decommissioning of dangerous rock quarry near Greymouth has raised the ire of a West Coast Regional councillor.
A fresh report on the mothballed Kiwi Point Quarry this week to council's Infrastructure Governance Group did not go down well with councillor Peter Ewen.
He said the risk to the public from the site had already been on the radar for at least six years and the fresh report - following a geotechnical report in mid-2022 - made no reference to the abandoned underground mine shafts dating back to the 1920s beneath the site, Ewen, a recognised West Coast mine historian, said.
The site remains on notice from Work Safe.
Ewen said the risk of the site's collapse onto the Tranz Alpine tourist train route and State Highway 7 had been well signalled - as seen in June 2022 when the train ran into a slip below the quarry access road.
"The risk is there. Furthermore, in 2018 it was highlighted it would effect the State highway and the Tranz Alpine. Well, in 2022 the train hit a slip there - under the bridge."
The Tranz Alpine hit a slip beneath the Kiwi Point rail overbridge in June 2022. That incident was relatively minor but, "heaven forbid we have a large slip and another train or vehicle gets caught", Ewen said.
"I'm pretty disappointed with (the report) actually because historically there has been front page stories on this site.
"There's quite a void there and to not have that included in a report is a deficiency I'm not prepared to accept.
Council ceased operating the quarry about 2020 after 45 years of extraction.
Since then part of the access road has been removed to deal with the slip risk onto the road and railway below.
"I've raised this before … the risk is sub-surface.
"The deficiency of not having that in those official reports is not right. I object to receiving these like this," Ewen said.
Ewen said "a big cavernous shaft" in the area escalated the risk yet council now had two reports which failed to appraise that.
Ewen has repeatedly raised the risk to council staff in public meetings in the past two years.
He said his concerns could be verified by historic mine maps and the issue was well known locally.
A staff report said the latest consultant study recommended "an extensive amount of work which will be costly".
Acting catchments manager Shanti Morgan said another "risk assessment" on the quarry's current status, as well as on the necessary work to make it safe, were recommended.
That would allow for cost estimates to formally decommission the site, Morgan said.
Council chief executive Darryl Lew said Ewen should be tapped by staff to ensure the consultant was fully informed, pending an expanded report.
Committee chairperson Frank Dooley said while the latest report was based on scope, "if that scope is deficient that that is another issue."
"What councillor Ewen is saying, that is an issue."
Councillor Peter Haddock agreed and said the quarry being above an historic mine was known, as was the risk from a local fault line nearby.
He also said the latest report effectively repeated the previous 2022 report.
Councillor Brett Cummings said the latest report did identify a rock knob above the quarry as something council had to deal with given it was a fall risk.
"Council didn't put it there - that seems unfair. That's going to be the dearest part, removing that natural feature."
Fuel tax hike will ‘penalise’ West Coast motorists
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A proposal to shift the road tax burden onto those who drive the furthest will really hit people living in provincial regions like the West Coast, the chair of its regional transport committee says.
West Coast Regional Transport Committee chairperson Peter Ewen said the West Coast needed to "front foot it" by banding together with similar regions to strongly submit against some of the proposed measures.
The Government is proposing to increase the fuel excise tax at the pump - ahead of further work to put all vehicles on an even footing by paying a road user charge instead.
This could see all vehicles - electric, petrol and diesel - being charged based on weight and distance travelled.
This approach could be "very significant" for the 650km long West Coast region, Ewen told council's Resource Management Committee this week.
Ewen said it could "unduly penalise" the West Coast and similar rural provincial regions which had no public transport, meaning people needed to drive long distances to access basic services like medical care.
The move to charge based on "use" would be disproportionate compared to the major urban centres, leaving the West Coast "at the vanguard" of user pays again for rural dwellers, the West Coast Regional councillor said.
"We have to make it very clear that one fit doesn't fit all … the talk of transport is all urban focused," he said.
Councillor Frank Dooley said the proposed changes seemed "really weak" on mitigations.
"I get really concerned when they talk about 'nature based solutions'."
Councillor Brett Cummings said it did put the issues back to the region "to come up with solutions".
At the same time the price of fuel and the impact on the region's industry "is really expensive".
"From my point of view I'd rather they take some of the tax off fuel for those that don't drive on the road."
He was referring to the likes of farming and mining machinery which pay road user charges through their fuel.
Councillor Peter Haddock, a member of the regional transport committee, said the idea was to ensure electric vehicles now paid for their road use.
He suggested Ewen and himself would be more than happy to advocate at a South Island level.
CEwen said the pressure was only going to get worse in the meantime with the country now reliant on imported refined fuel already exacerbating rural living costs.
"This is getting out of hand. We don't have any Marsden Point any more, and we're at the end of the queue, with rural communities even further back."
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